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What information to provide your accountant to do a tax return?
Navigating tax laws can be confusing because of its complexities, but you may hire an accountant or tax agent to prepare your tax return on your behalf.
What information to provide your accountant to do a tax return?
Navigating tax laws can be confusing because of its complexities, but you may hire an accountant or tax agent to prepare your tax return on your behalf.
What information and documents should I provide?
Your accountant would need your personal details and tax file number to prepare your tax forms on your behalf.
Likewise, you need to provide the following:
Most recent tax return
Your most recent tax return may provide your accountant the basic information they need to prepare your new tax return. However, this will only give them an idea of what to look for or ask you with regard to your new return.
For instance, if you claimed tax deductions due to working from home in the previous financial year, they may ask you if your employment situation is still the same.
Likewise, they may identify and address any discrepancy that arises.
Income statements
This includes your super fund statements and payment summaries from the government if you receive allowances.
- Foreign income statements
You need to provide income statements from foreign income, such as pension or investments. - Fund statements
Account statements from your fund managers and trusts should also be prepared.
Include statements that provide information about investment assets that you bought or sold within the effective financial year. - Rental property records
If you rent out a property or sold one, make sure to provide the information to your accountant so they can account for the rental income, capital gain or capital loss. - Bank statements
This should reflect any income you receive from interest within the financial year.
Receipt for tax claimable expense
What receipts should I keep?
If you plan to claim tax deductions on eligible expenses, you will need to keep a record of all receipts that would support the claims.
What can I claim?
Some examples of claimable deductions are:
Work-related expenses
You may claim a deduction on vehicle and travel expenses for work-related duties, laundry and dry cleaning for specialised work-related clothing, overtime meals, tools and equipment for work use.
Likewise, work-related self-education expenses (i.e. seminar fees) that were not reimbursed by your employer may be deducted.
- Donations
Any monetary or property contributions or donations may be deducted as long as it was given to accredited deductible gift recipients and was given completely voluntarily. - Super contributions
Concessional and non-concessional superannuation contributions and spouse contributions are deductible as long as they fall within the contributions cap. - Private health insurance premium
You may claim a tax offset on your premium payments if you took out a private health insurance to avoid Medicare levy. - Depreciating assets
If you run a business, you may claim a tax deduction on depreciating assets over time.
Read “Legal ways to reduce tax payable” for more information on possible tax offsets and deductions.
How do I keep my receipts legible?
One way to keep your receipts readable is to keep a digital copy by scanning them.
You may keep a digital copy in your local drive, mobile device or a mobile application.
Alternatively, you may record photos and scans of documents and receipts in the ATO app’s myDeductions tool.
About the author
About the author
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